With the design of the School of Nursing and Student Community Center, the design team assumed the role of stewards of the great vision established by the University leadership for the project. It is this vision that set in place the idea for this special place and building. It would be a new nursing school and community center designed to be state-of-the-art for learning, research, student service and workplace.

The new building would be another step in the direction of healthy, environmentally responsible actions that the University had begun with changes to its facilities operations processes in order to reduce the use of energy, polluting chemicals, cleaning agents, potable water and other resources. The facility was also to represent the University’s leadership in other responsible actions such as utilizing adaptable workplace design, salvaging and reusing materials and using photovoltaic panels to generate electrical energy.

Seventeen firms collaborated with an equally large client group – the School of Nursing, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the Office of Facility Planning and Construction – in seeking a design response to the high aspirations and goals for this project. Every user and client perspective and each design discipline shaped the design throughout the entire process.